MANBIJ, Syria — The large section of northeastern Syria once occupied by the Islamic State is now a rare safe area in the war-ravaged country, thanks to an American-backed coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. The coalition’s fighters, who with American help drove the Islamic State from the region, are Arabs and Kurds, men and women, young and old. Many are veterans of multiple battles and have been wounded, but returned to the fight again and again. Here are a few of them.

The Conflict Intelligence Team found the Russians "may have fought alongside pro-Russia separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine prior to joining the fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and other insurgents challenging Assad's rule in Syria." The group also found Russians killed "appeared to have joined the Wagner Group, a private paramilitary company, before traveling to fight in Syria. Last October, ISIS released a video showing two Russian-speaking men the militants claimed to have captured, and subsequent research showed the two men were likely Wagner Group members fighting in Syria." "While the total number of 'Wagner' operatives killed in...

The Israeli military has shot down an Iranian drone that infiltrated the country and has struck Iranian targets in Syria that launched it, in what the military called a "severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty". The military said its planes faced heavy anti-aircraft counter fire from Syria that forced Israeli pilots to abandon an F-16 jet that crashed in northern Israel. It said the pilots were injured and evacuated to a hospital. Sirens sounded in northern Israel as a result of massive Syrian fire. Explosions could be heard in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley region near the Syrian border. Israeli military...

A Kurdish YPG fighter. Credit: Kurdishstruggle/Flickr Tensions have existed for years between Washington and Ankara over the Kurdish population in both Iraq and Syria. U.S. officials regard the Kurds as able fighters and democratic secular allies in the struggle against Islamic extremism. Turkish leaders view them and their agenda for an independent Kurdish homeland as a menace to Turkey’s sovereignty and territorial integrity—especially since a majority of Kurds reside in southeastern Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government deems the highly autonomous Kurdish entities across the border in Iraq and Syria as dangerous models and a magnet for their...

DOHA,— Qatar, which is routinely accused of ties to Islamist extremists and Islamic State group IS, has thrown its weight behind Turkey’s military offensive against Kurdish militia in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), coming to the defence of the “national security” of one of its closest allies.“The state of Qatar reaffirmed its support for the efforts of the republic of Turkey to maintain its national security in the wake of the breaches and terrorist attacks carried out inside Turkish territories,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Lolwa Al-Khater said.Speaking to Qatari media on Monday, Khater said Turkey’s launch of Operation Olive Branch was “driven by...

Commander of the People's Protection Units (YPG) Sipan Hemo welcomed the statement delivered by the US Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, saying that Washington will defend the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces against any attack waged by the Syrian government and prompted by Iran. According to Hemo, the phase following the defeat of ISIS in east Syria is a transition from military victories to political recognition from the US-led coalition and Russia. During his visit to Moscow, Hemo was informed by some Russian officers that the Kurdish self-administrations will call for a Syrian national dialogue congress in Sochi, which will gradually...

Doubts have emerged about the story of a Syrian filmmaker who claimed to have survived a murder attempt in Istanbul last month, after videos were published in which he appears to be planning the attempt on his own life to generate publicity for his anti-Assad film. Muhammad Bayazid said he was stabbed ...

Caption -- Borobudur: hardly Chinese The author is former foreign secretary of India sibalkanwal@gmail.com The West has built a lot of myths about China which others, including in India, have accepted without challenge. That China was for centuries the dominant power in Asia and is now on the way to recovering that lost status is one such myth. This historical distortion is serving to legitimize China's hegemonic ambitions, as if China has the right to recover its natural position in Asia and any resistance amounts to denying the Chinese their due. This explains why even when China is aggressive...

The US-led anti-ISIS Coalition stated that a Syrian regime jet was shot down following an attack on SDF forces south of Tabqa. The US-led anti-ISIS coalition Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) has released a statement regarding the downing of a Syrian jet near Tabqa Sunday afternoon. According to the statement, titled “Coalition defends partner forces from Syrian fighter jet attack”, at approximately 4:30 pm June 18 pro-Syrian regime forces attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces-held town of Ja'Din, south of Tabqa, wounding a number of SDF fighters and driving the SDF from the town. The statement said...

Leaders of the Syriac Military Council, a Christian force that is part of the US- backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighting ISIS (Photo: Courtesy)The battle for Raqqa, the Syrian city serving as the “capital” of ISIS’ caliphate, has begun. You’d never know it from the media coverage, but a Christian force is taking part and is asking for U.S. support and prayers.The Syriac Military Council (SMC) and its female wing, the Bethnahrin Women Protection Forces (HSNB), have issued a press release announcing their participation in the offensive on Raqqa. The SMC is a part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed,...

As John F. Kerry tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee. David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud. TV news outlets are scrambling to line up the first interview, hopeful the long-silent Paul might spill some beans about his close fund-raising ties to Kerry...

Roughly 100 people turned out in New City Monday evening to protest a plan to build a Syrian Orthodox church in their neighborhood. The Malankara Catholic Church purchased a 11,000-square-foot property on Mountain View Avenue to build a place of worship and a 55-space parking lot.

The US military and intelligence community has intercepted communications featuring Syrian military and chemical experts talking about preparations for the sarin attack in Idlib last week, a senior US official tells CNN.

The Times of Israel reports: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Dozens of Syrian students on Saturday gathered outside the offices of the United Nations in Damascus to protest a US missile attack on an air base. The protesters held banners and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday night at a Syrian airfield in response to what it believes was the Syrian government's use of banned chemical weapons blamed for having killed at least 100 people on Tuesday, U.S. military officials told NBC News. The U.S. military fired at least 50 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Ash Sha'irat in Homs province in western Syria, the officials said.

In a stark contrast to statements from the Barack Obama administration, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Thursday that the future of the Bashar al-Assad regime “will be decided by the Syrian people.” Tillerson made the remarks at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in response to a reporter’s question about Assad. “The previous administration said that Syrian President Assad must go,” the reporter asked. “Nikki Haley said yesterday that the fight in Syria cannot move forward without the issue of Assad being resolved. How do you see that issue being moved forward as you...

A 32-year-old computer whiz who was raised in Stoughton is suspected of using the high-tech skills he honed at Hub colleges to spread the bloodthirsty message of ISIS terrorists on social media, according to a Herald source and news reports. Ahmad Abousamra — who was educated at Northeastern University and UMass Boston — had already been placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list last year with a $50,000 reward offered for information leading to his capture and return. The FBI said Abousamra “has shown that he wants to kill United States soldiers.” He is now believed to be a...

Turkish Prime Minister Binali YÄ±ldÄ±rÄ±m said on Saturday that an aircraft belonging to the Syrian regime crashed in Turkey and that a search was being conducted for the pilots, the Diken news website reported. Erdal Ata, the governor of Hatay, said gendarmerie and medical teams have reached the wreckage of the Syrian plane and that no one was in the cockpit. YÄ±ldÄ±rÄ±m said that Â“the cause of the crash is not yet clear, but poor air conditions were reported in the region.Â”